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FireEye reports Q3 adjusted EPS 6c, consensus 2c

Reports Q3 revenue $212M, consensus $208.45M.

10

Dec

FEYEFireEye

$16.74

0.33 (2.01%)

10/05/18

OPCO

10/05/18NO CHANGETarget $22OPCOOutperform

FireEye's Cyber Defense Summit 'well attended,' says Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer analyst Shaul Eyal maintained an Outperform rating and $22 price target on FireEye following the company's Cyber Defense Summit. Eyal tells investors in a research note that the event was "well attended" and he remains attracted to FireEye's longer-term product strategy with Helix as well as its existing opportunity with spoke products such as Endpoint and Email Security where it has continued to expand capabilities up the stack.

10/17/18

BARD

10/17/18INITIATIONBARDOutperform

FireEye initiated with an Outperform at Baird

10/18/18

BARD

10/18/18INITIATIONTarget $22BARDOutperform

FireEye initiated with an Outperform at Baird

Baird analyst Jonathan Ruykhaver last night initiated coverage of FireEye with an Outperform rating and $22 price target. The analyst says that while the company's turnaround story "seems to be stuck in second gear," he believes in the vision laid out by management around an automated platform for detection, response and remediation. Further, the recent collaboration with Google somewhat validates the bull thesis that threat intelligence from Mandiant is differentiated and should drive sales when integrated into product, the analyst contends. He calls FireEye a top pick in Security and Infrastructure Software.

10/29/18

JPMS

10/29/18NO CHANGEJPMS

JPMorgan lists potential Software takeover targets after Red Hat deal

The volume of acquisitions in Software appears to be picking up with over 70 transactions announced year-to-date including last night's Red Hat (RHT) takeover by IBM (IBM), JPMorgan analyst Sterling Auty tells investors in a research note. The analyst puts the deals announced this year into three buckets: strategic, where the acquirer looks to gain a strong foothold in a new segment, vertical acquiring companies, and valuation, with acquirers going after assets with discounted valuations. Auty sees number of companies fitting those same characteristics across his coverage universe. In the strategic category, the analyst sees Okta (OKTA), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), ServiceNow (NOW), RingCentral (RNG), Aspen Technology (AZPN) and DocuSign (DOCU) as potential acquisition targets. In the vertical industry exposure category, Auty lists Guidewire (GWRE), Veeva (VEEV), Medidata (MDSO), Ellie Mae (ELLI) and Q2 Holdings (QTWO) as potential targets. And in the attractive valuation bucket, the analyst sees FireEye (FEYE), Carbon Black (CBLK), Secureworks (SCWX), Akamai (AKAM) and LogMeln (LOGM) as potential candidates to get acquired.

Morningstar last night reported Q4 earnings per share of 99c, up from 91c a year ago, on revenue of $262.7M, up 8.1% from last year. "Morningstar reached a significant milestone in 2018, surpassing $1 billion in revenue for the first time," said Kunal Kapoor, Morningstar's CEO in the earnings statement. "This achievement resulted from putting investors first and providing exceptional experiences that support better investor outcomes. While the late 2018 downturn in global markets impacted net flows and asset growth in Morningstar Managed Portfolios, we experienced record flows into the ETFs built on Morningstar Indexes." Morningstar said market volatility negatively impacted net flows into Morningstar Managed Portfolios and impacted overall assets in Morningstar Investment Management and Workplace Solutions, particularly in Q4. Assets under management and advisement in Managed Portfolios increased by $1.2B in 2018 and were relatively flat year over year in Workplace Solutions. Morningstar.com premium subscriptions did not meet the company's expectations for growth in 2018, the company admitted. "We recently refreshed the Morningstar.com website and plan additional improvements in 2019," it noted. Shares of Morningstar are down 2%, or $2.62, to $124.60 in early trading.

Terex (TEX) delaying its earnings release led to considerable speculation on possible acquisitions, Baird analyst Mircea Dobre told investors earlier in research note. The analyst believes Astec Industries' (ASTE) "unique circumstances" and "apparent strategic fit" within the Terex portfolio "are worth contemplating." Astec would add asphalt plants, with leading market share in North America, as well a mobile pavers to Terex's Materials Processing segment, Dobre points out. Further, the addition of Astec could give Terex room to potentially altogether divest Crane down the line, with the proceeds used to reduce the leverage resulted from the acquisition, the analyst adds. Regarding the "unique circumstances," Dobre notes Astec's s CEO Ben Brock resigned on January 22, its shareholders have been pushing for improved performance, and that the activist investor on Terex's board was an Astec shareholder. Should Terex pay a multiple for Astec in-line with historical median transaction valuations in the space, it would imply a 27% premium to Astec's current price or $50 per share, according to Dobre. Shares of Astec are up 44c to $39.89 in early trading while Terex is down 3c to $35.54.